Pellets Will Remain in Whittington's Face

Millionaire lawyer Harry Whittington's condition continued to improve Monday after Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot him during a quail hunt, but doctors said he would probably live out his days with pellets inside him.

[Hospital Emergency Chief] Blanchard said that in cases like Whittington's, where the number of pellets lodged in the skin were "more than I can count on the fingers of my hand, but less than 100," it was better to leave them there than to try to extract them. "In all likelihood, he will continue the rest of his long life and his longevity with those pellets remaining in place," Blanchard said.

Another update on the "miscommunication" over the request to interview Cheney on Saturday night:

Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren said at least one deputy showed up at the ranch's front gate Saturday night and asked to speak to Cheney, but was turned away by Secret Service agents. Zahren said there was some miscommunication and that arrangements had been made for the vice president to be interviewed Sunday morning.

As has been pointed out elsewhere in the blogosphere, the shot must be deep enough to make it not worth the risk taking them out. So the comment on a eairler thread by a hunter lawyer seems right on.

I conclude the target was within 10 or 15 yards, at most, of Dick and possibly as close as 5 yards. My reasons for saying this are algebraic.
...So, my best estimate is as follows: Dick nearly blew this guy's head off.

If the doctor is correct in his estimate of the number of pellets in his face and chest, that is less than 100, he couldn't have been only 10-15 yards away. The firsthand account of ~30 yards would sound about right. I guess it depends on the choke.
I discussed this with my wife (a doctor) over dinner. She said there would be no good reason to try and remove such small birdshot from anyone; especially in a 78 year old man. The detrimental lead exposure would be negligible over the next 10 or 15 years. What may be significant is a secondary infection. A man of his age could easily be killed by an infection. This is likely why he is still in the hospital. I suppose if he died from it we would be talking manslaughter.

The victim had pellets in his face neck and shoulder.
He would have been wearing a hunting shirt -probably canvas or cotton, and a orange vest as well.
Small pellets of the sort used for bird hunting lose velocity very quickly. If we assume that he was using #8 lead shot, there is no way those pellets would have had the retained velocity to pierce two layers of fabric and his skin at a range of 30 yards.
I don't believe the story as told. I have been hunting for a long time, and have always read extensively about every hunting accident i hear about. It is highly unusual for an accidental shooting in a hunting setting to result in a blast to the face of the victim. Usually, this sort of event is the result of not seeing someone because their face is turned away. As humans, we are naturally drawn to the features of a face, no matter how far away.
More likely, cheney was carelessly handling his gun by carrying it over his shoulder while walking up to the next covey where their trained dogs would have been holding, and the gun went off, shooting the man behind him. It would be consistent for a man in very poor health, having had multiple heart attacks, and really bad feet, to carry his gun over his shoulder to ease the effort of a long walk up.

doesn't have legs...Two weeks, tops
Hey, guys, time will tell, right? But until then, much fun to be had by all (that is, by all who don't have a face full of buckshot):

"The Vice President is standing by his decision to shoot Harry Whittington. Now, according to the best intelligence available, there were quail hidden in the brush. Everyone believed at the time there were quail in the brush. And while the quail turned out to be a 78- year-old man, even knowing that today, Mr. Cheney insists he still would have shot Mr. Whittington in the face. He believes the world is a better place for his spreading buckshot throughout the entire region of Mr. Wittington's face." --"Daily Show" correspondent Rob Corddry

"and he's posted on every thread thread started about this incident and now he's discussing it with his wife over dinner. Of course the rest of America is talking about Michelle Kwan. Right..."

Look, don't make the mistake that this tiny corner of your world has anything to do with what the rest of America is talking about. And certainly don't be so silly as to think that America is talking about things I'm interested in. So, like I said, two weeks tops
Hey, I'll see you back here in two weeks for a bit of crow, deal? Oh, and not to nit pick, but I've only posted on two or three of these threads; I think TLs running nearly a dozen of them now. I'm sure it was an oversight; you're not one to exaggerate.

As humans, we are naturally drawn to the features of a face, no matter how far away.

As an undead coffin-dweller, Cheney is naturally drawn to the features of a slightly flushed but otherwise lily-white virginal throat. He learned long ago that it's best to ignore the tortured visages of his innocent prey.

Whittington shot a bird and went to get it, breaking from Cheney and Willeford. Armstrong said Whittington then came up from behind without signaling, and as a covey flushed Cheney wheeled and fired his .28-gauge shotgun, hitting Whittington.

What BS! Coming up from behind is what you do to stay out of the line of fire. Not yelling is what you do to not spook the game.
No responsible hunter assumes he has a 360 degree free field of fire.
pw's probably right, bushco could bite the heads off of white babies on live TV and the WH would blame the victims and the right leaning media would find some swiftboater to back it up.

Ltgesq-
Your scenario doesn't match the injury. A 28 GA choked for upland game wouldn't have the spread to cover face, neck, and torso at close range. Since there are less than 100 BBs in the skin, our victim was hit with about 1/3 of the #8 shot. For a 10-15" spread containing 30% of the shot we could have a full choke at 30-40 yards; wide-open, maybe 20-30 yards. Fits their story.
It seems plausible that the old man just didn't have the needed reaction time to pull off the bird before shooting his friend. Anyway, how on earth do you fire you gun when it's over your shoulder; safety off, thumb crammed in the trigger guard? It doesn't seem any less embarrassing to actively shoot your friend as opposed to this passive screw up.
Sailor-
Not that its this guys fault, but you always let your hunting partners know when you are coming up behind them, always. If you don't they may shoot you. Anyway, upland game doesn't spook like that. They sit until you are right on top of them or your dog kicks them out of the brush.

Hey, if you're gonna dream, dream big. I've got something a little more along the lines of the last days of the 3rd reich for the 43rd. Bullets or poison I don't give a damn. Just do it and be done with it.